Five California women filed a lawsuit against the Fresno County school system on Wednesday, claiming that administrators disregarded their allegations that a second-grade teacher who was later found guilty of similar conduct was sexually abusing them.
The Clovis Unified School District case comes amid a wave of sexual abuse lawsuits that have left schools having to pay settlements to victims suing for decades-old offenses and lawmakers frantically trying to stop wrongdoing.
The most recent instance occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s. One of the plaintiffs, Samantha Mu oz, a 28-year-old mother of two, claims that she was mistreated by Neng Yang, a teacher at Fancher Creek Elementary School at the time.
According to Mu Oz’s lawsuit, Yang started harassing her in 2004 while she was his 7-year-old pupil. According to the lawsuit, girls had been reporting about Yang to Clovis Unified School District officials for years by that point. After being arrested in 2012 for creating child pornography, the teacher has been incarcerated in federal prison in San Pedro for the past ten years. He is currently serving a 38-year sentence for sexually exploiting a youngster.
Mu Oz said that Clovis Unified was defending this predator. Despite knowing that he was [assaulting pupils], they kept him on as a teacher at that school.
Although victims of sexual assault are not usually named by the Times, Mu Oz and two of her four co-plaintiffs stated that they wished to discuss the incident in public.
According to Clovis Unified spokesperson Kelly Avants, the district has not yet been notified of the case.
Although we have not yet received the suit, Avants stated that we will examine it upon receipt and reply appropriately.
Yang’s criminal case was handled by a public defender’s office, which forwarded inquiries to federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of California. That office’s spokeswoman claimed they were unable to comment.
According to Mu Oz, school officials questioned me when a teacher noticed him displaying me child pornography on his phone and then urged me to be silent. He continued to abuse me after I was abandoned in his classroom.
The Fresno case comes after a historic $4 billion deal this spring over sexual abuse in foster homes, group homes, and juvenile facilities in L.A. County. The payment is thought to be the highest in U.S. history.
Los Angeles Unified, the biggest school system in the state, said Tuesday it would sell bonds worth up to $500 million to help pay for its expected sexual abuse liabilities.
According to Michael Fine, leader of California’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, which released a report in January projecting state education agencies could be responsible for $2 billion to $3 billion for prior sexual misbehavior, school districts are under a great deal of financial strain. The funds are coming from their existing resources regardless.
A number of recent modifications to California’s statute of limitations for child sexual abuse are the reason for the settlements. The state briefly allowed allegations dating back to 1940, starting with Assembly Bill 218 in 2019. According to the legislation, victims of child sex abuse have until the age of 40 or within five years of discovering a new ailment or psychological harm brought on by the abuse to bring a claim.
“There are undoubtedly school districts that believe the state should pay because the state changed the law,” Fine said.
Some in the argument contend that financially stressed schools shouldn’t be held accountable for misconduct; only abusers should.
The majority of California school districts most likely get funding from a public entity risk pool, which is a collective fund that is contributed to by several organizations in order to cover liabilities like workers’ compensation and health insurance.
In an effort to fund sex abuse lawsuits triggered by the legal change, some pools are evaluating their members’ retroactive premiums, according to Fine. This implies that running expenses are higher for even non-sued schools.
“Whether there is a claim or not, there are effects on the classroom because they have to pay the retroactive premiums somehow,” he said. They are liable if they were in the pool.
In its findings, the agency suggested alternate methods the state and school districts may pay for legal responsibilities, including as a new state victim’s compensation fund, a modified receivership for organizations that are unable to pay, and practical measures to stop abuse.
California lawmakers, especially state senator Sasha Ren e Prez (D-Alhambra), have embraced the latter with enthusiasm. However, according to Fine, some recommendations have been disregarded.
He stated that there isn’t a law that incorporates the remaining suggestions we made.
“Stories like those in the Clovis Unified suit haunt me after months of trying to grasp the scope and the magnitude of the liability California institutions are facing,” Fine said.
He described it as emotionally overwhelming.
Nearly comparable abuse dates back to 1998, when Yang was still a student teacher, according to the plaintiffs in the Clovis lawsuit.
Tiffany Thrailkill, a second-grader at the time, reportedly complained to the principal, vice principal, and school counselor at Francher Creek that Yang had touched her and made her engage in oral sex.
According to the lawsuit, [officials] responded by claiming Tiffany was lying and sending her to a psychologist.
According to the lawsuit, school administrators ignored the claims and never looked into Yang, even though statutes requiring abuse to be reported date back to the 1980s.
According to the plaintiff’s lawyer, Jason Amala, it seems that school administrators blamed the girls, turned a blind eye, and allowed Yang to abuse their children for more than ten years rather than denouncing Yang and safeguarding their students.
The Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which is a collaboration between Homeland Security Investigations and the Clovis Police Department, ultimately apprehended Yang.
The teacher’s belief was icy consolation for Mu Oz. Now, she must make the painful choice of whether to send her nonverbal 4-year-old for early intervention therapy at the same elementary school where her lawsuit claims her nightmare started, even if she feels that sharing her story will encourage other victims to come forward.
Why would I want to take my son to a location that only conjures up negative memories? “Mom said.” It feels like I’m giving the devil my life once more.
All I ask is that they answer for the people they safeguarded, Mu Oz stated.
